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Duronto to run as Shatabdi train

The non-stop AC Duronto train from Chennai to Coimbatore will run as a Shatabdi Express and the Duronto service to Thiruvananthapuram will be operated as an AC Superfast Express with Rajdhani fares from Friday.

This follows Southern Railway’s appeal to the Railway Board seeking conversion of these Duronto services to express trains on account of poor patronage and attendant losses.

There will, however, be no change in the composition of the trains and days of service.

T. Sadagopan, consumer activist, points out that the train’s scheduled arrival of 12.45 a.m. at Ernakulam is as passenger-unfriendly as the arrival time of 10.30 a.m. at its destination (Chennai Central).

“Serving the demand for a fast train has to be balanced with convenient commercial stoppages for earning revenue,” he said. According to a Railway official, while the Rajdhani and Duronto fares are more or less equivalent in the case of the Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram train, passengers booked on travel dates till December 9 on the Chennai-Coimbatore Duronto services can file for refund as the Shatabdi is graded below the Duronto class of trains.